The Beauty of Simplicity
I love log cabin homes. When I go down that aisle at the store, I buy those log home magazines all the time and wistfully peruse all the pictures and designs from cover to cover. The huge homes do not interest me. Seldom do I look very long at anything over 2000 square feet. In fact, I'd much prefer a very small log cabin; 1800 square feet would be fine for two people and two cats.
At this time of year, I don't imagine how difficult they are to heat, I just think how pretty they would look decorated for Christmas.
The new ones are okay, but I really just want to hang a simple wreath with cranberries and some ribbon on the door of this old pioneer cabin.
I love the simple elegance of this bedroom. It is quite homey to me. Many antique pieces adorn our home and I love wandering through antique places.
The long log that runs the whole length of the ceiling reminds me of the log cabins we stay in for our summer vacation.
Even though this isn't a log cabin, again, I am drawn to it's plain but cosy warmth.
In this day of ever-expanding modern technology, I find myself longing more for the basic and simpler life of bygone days. Maybe I was just born too late.
Labels: Christmas decorations, log cabins
posted by Mother of Invention at 6:05 PM
29 Comments:
My girls are reading Little House on the Praire. What a JOY!! I, too, love log cabins and the simplicity they imply. Merry Christmas to you and yours!! T
Monday, December 03, 2007
My ex and four children and I built out own log cabin in northern Vermont back in the 70s. Done right, they are no harder to heat than a regular house - done the way we did it (our first winter the walls were not chinked and it was often below freezing INSIDE the house!), it can be a tad uncomfortable. Our cabin has since been sold to someone who has made vast improvements to it but I still miss living encased in the arms of the trees we cut on our own land to house us.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Hi MOI! You're not the only one who loves the simpler and back to basics. Perhaps I too am born in the wrong era eh? I love log cabins...they're quaint and cosy. Like your pictures. Thanks.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Yes ... reminds me of the song
"Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free
'tis a gift to come down where you want to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shant be ashamed
to turn, turn will be our delight
'ti' by turning, turning we come 'round right.
I loved your photos and your post. Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur in today's busy world and long for simpler times too :)
Hope you're feeling better. Thanks for stopping by Sacred Ruminations and saying hello. I left a more detailed response to you there.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Whoops, forgot the Hugs and Blessings … but here they are :)
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
My dad and soon-to-be-ex step mom built a log home about 20 years ago. It's very snug and beautiful, nice and warm.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
They look nice and invoke all sort of dreamy feelings and images, but they are quite impractical. Lack of proper rooms and space would be my main issue (ok, ok, if it was a really big log cabin you'd have rooms).
Then there is the whole heating of it.
I think what we find attractive about it is the wood. Some might say that, having evolved from tree dwellers, we still harbour a instinctual longing to roost back in the trees.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
They do indeed look pretty! I love wood it's so tactile and warm.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Those cabins do look cozy. Very Little House on the Prairie-ish. In a good way.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
These do indeed look homey, quaint and cozy.
Dear friends of ours are building a log cabin in the mountains of Western Maryland. Theirs will be quaint and cozy too but with a drop-dead gourmet kitchen. Hey, things can't get too rustic.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Those images evoke a sense of something magical and special and cosy. I don't think it's a case of having been born too late, I think many of us hanker for simpler, calmer life, just as many of us hanker for a return to our childhood - especially at this time of year. It's probably a good sign that our lives and our world have become way too frenetic and unbalanced.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
I too would love to experience living in any one of those pictured in your post. Probably until I realized that I was missing some of the amenities I simply take for granted. But they are certainly pretty in the pictures!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Lovey photos.. they are all so inviting. Just goes to show.. things do not make a home.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
I can't believe I just lost a huge comment for everyone here! Later!
I am still sniffling and feeling mungy....I just watched an amazingly touching thing..a dove flew into my window on the 2nd floor, got stuck in the screen, and is now off on the huge pile of snow slowly dying...and there's nothing I can do about it...sigh* sniff...
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
What beautiful photos. I think we all long for simpler times, but I must say I love the conveniences that we have.
I remember when my mother got a wringer washing machine. Now that seems archaic, but to her it was better than using a scrub board.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
That is why it is safer to type it in Word and then cut and paste it into the comment box.
I have lost too many long comments because Blogger experienced technical difficulties. I still sometimes type directly into the comment box (if I think it will be short - like this one).
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Anon: I loved that show! I used to show "Christmas at Plum Creek" to my gr. 3's when we studied Pioneers. Thank you!
Pauline: Pioneer woman! I envy the experience but not the cold! It must have been very trying with 4 kids and everything else..like "Roughing in the Bush". You must still have a bit of that log cabin in you.
Twilite: I am too stressed about things that should be simple. Pioneers were stressed about their next meal, crops ..not about technology etc.
Storyteller: Good song, that. I so long to be rid of complexities of modern life at times.
Diana: Wow! I bet it was really nice! Do they miss it, I wonder or perhaps they've just moved on?
Richard: Yes, you're right..I am a dreamer longing to escape into the romantic Christmas card! But..as some other commenters have said, they make them pretty comfortable now, just like any other house, but with the rustic look. I dream of a small one on a lake.
We have the charm of oak and fir in our 1921 house. We took great care and extra expense to have my husband's office blend in with that style so his doors are oak with crystal handles and the baseboard oak instead of that cheap old carpet some medical offices have. It's a beautiful place for him and his staff to spend their work day.
Hmmmm...back to the trees? Maybe it'd be a lot cheaper for me to satisfy that craving with a banana!!!
Akelamalu: I have a lot of wood in my house too yet I still would like this!
Grizz: Fond memories of crying at that show since it was just so wholesome....plus I loved Michael Landon!
Gewells: Sounds beautiful but maybe too huge for me! Also, what would I do with that kitchen? I might have to COOK!
Absolute Vanilla: You hit the nail on the head! This time of year just accentuates how out of hand life has become with so many complexities. It takes us away from the focus of what the holiday is all about. We're too caught up in rushing through life and stressing out over it. I just want to jump off the merry-go-round and right into the Christmas card!
Barbara: Yes, I might too, to be quite honest. Maybe it's just the idea...but there are some things we could all learn to do without quite well and be enriched for having done so.
Coll: You have the right idea. I want to downsize a lot of stuff from my life and home!
Beverly: My mom had one of those! Yes, I don't fancy an outhouse at -30C temperatures!
Richard: Thanks for the tip..I'm trying it now. I pasted the whole line odf comments into a new e-mail, erase the comments as I reply to them so I don't have to switch back and forth. I was using the control + C..and then V, but it fails so often!
****Dove in my window update: Hey, the dove survived and when I came to check on it, it had flown away! Maybe it was stunned and just needed a rest. Hope it's okay.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Hey, it worked Richard! But you still have to use control + V when pasting since you can't see the icons on the top once you're on the comment page.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
I feel you. I also have this longing from time to time. When I was in Norway I usually stay with my father on the countryside on the weekends to relax and unwind.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Oh MOI, I love these pictures and I just want to cozy up snug and warm in there!! The last picture with the fireplace and Christmas tree is oh so beautiful!!
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Chase: Your Norway is so similar to what we have and do here! I bet you are missing it terribly.
Lynette: I'm glad you got to experience it vicariously!
Thursday, December 06, 2007
The last picture seems almost surreal to me. I've been here at A&M and the dorms and classrooms have concrete walls, very little color, aside from posters and memos the students arrange on the bulletin boards! I'm very ready to be back in my mother's warm, messy, colorful house again!
Thursday, December 06, 2007
PS I've posted the second Christmas Carol Quiz today if you fancy having a go. :)
Thursday, December 06, 2007
So many log cabins are built these days from those "kits," which is an interesting spin on a "simpler life," eh?
My cousin and his family live up the road in a log home they built. It has an atmosphere that can't be replicated by any other materials.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Hi MOI! I do sincerely hope you're feeling better and out of the woods to those 'sniffs'. Praying for you...wishing I could visit you though. (Or you might not welcome visitors.) Take care. LOL.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Water Baby: Yes, I can remember how much I wanted to get home for Christmas while at university! Such an institution...even all the toilets!
Akelamalu: Okay, I'll check!
Jocelyn: Back to the land with a KIT! HA! I bet theirs is really homey and warm.
Twilite: Thanks, I'm getting there slowly..not 100%...about 60%!
Friday, December 07, 2007
ohhhhhh MoI ..... your post speaks to my true self .... that is my dream as well: to live in a log cabin, in the midst of the appalachian mountains: dogs (sorry) and books; a large, warm bed, small kitchen in corner, HUGE fireplace, and a never ending supply of stacked cords of wood awaiting me ... one large trip to stock up on eats and I'd be set for an entire season ... it is my 'fantasy' whenever my own life becomes too overwhelming ....
a girl true to my heart, you are!
xxx
red
Friday, December 07, 2007
RDG: I would have pegged you to be a log cabin gal! A great place to get inspiration for writing is by a crackling warm log fire in a small log cabin.
We should all have a place to escape to when our lives get too frenzied.
Do you buy and look wistfully through those magazines too?
Friday, December 07, 2007
What great pictures MoI and you know I love nature and the rural. Its just like the nature and as being in Norway - thanks for sharing!
www.terella.no
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Post a Comment
<< Home